Dear Parents, Happy Wednesday or Thursday! (depends on when you read it) 😊

I like this weather much better! We have been able to get outside for recess and doing some classwork! 

Math- We moved onto exponents this week after reviewing the properties again on Monday. Some of the kids really struggle with breaking up a number into 2 numbers. For example 51. I would break that into 50 +1. 107= 100+ 7. They want to do 5 and 1 or 1 and 7. They aren't thinking about their actual values. On Tuesday, I taught them about exponents...we did a bunch together and many of them said, "Oh, this is so easy." That didn't seem to hold true when they had to do the assignment. We did more work on Wednesday with them. That went much better I think. Getting them to multiply by 10s can be tricky. Plus if the exponent was 4, some thought there should be a 4 in their answer. We are also working our way into multiplication. This should be review because I know they did that last year. They may need some extra work on doing double digits  and multiplication. I don't know if they remember to drop that 0 when multiplying in the tens column. 

Religion- They are finishing up their chapter this week. They will do a study guide and right now it looks like the test will be next Monday. I will let you know if that changes. They did great at mass! I heard there were some technical issues for those watching so I am sorry if you missed out. I think the kids did great, but it is very odd only having two grades in there and then the cameras. I told them we had some kinks to work out, but that we can do that at our next mass. 

Reading- This week we read a story about two 5th graders running for class president. They had to give a speech to their class to persuade the votes. Miata gave a very formal speech. She also is planning things that will beautify the school. Rudy was very informal. Rudy wants more recess for the kids and ice cream every day! While the kids liked his choices best, they knew that probably wouldn't happen. Our grammar this week is complete subjects and complete predicate parts of a sentence. This is difficult. Kids just have a hard time finding the verb in a sentence and then are thrown even more if they put an adverb in front of it. They are also working on subject/verb agreement.  They will have their posttest on Friday in spelling. This is our third story in the unit so there will be a cold read they have to do which means 10 more questions. 

FAST testing will be starting up soon! This year they will doing that in reading and math. The math portion is all on their computers. 

No school next Friday. We have PD at the public school that day. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, WOW! Mother Nature has certainly turned around on us! I loved the temps we had on Labor Day! I am not sure I am ready for cold. 

Being Sick or Gone- Parents are asking questions so I thought I would make some clarifications. If you know you are going to be gone ( taking a trip, Beef Expo, etc) please let me know. I will gather homework for them or at least send their books with them. If you have WiFi while you are gone, you can have them join us for class on their Google Classroom. That way they get the instruction. If I know in advance, I can make paper copies to send home as well, but if not, they may have to do work on Google Classroom using KAMI or whatever the teacher uses. IF they join us online, then they don't get counted as absent either ( as long as they are with us for most of the day).  If you are keeping your child home because they are sick or you're getting them tested for Covid, they can still join us for class online and they won't be counted absent. If they are really sick, feeling horrible, puking, high temps, etc... they don't need to be online. They can get the rest they need. I can still pull together homework and have you come pick it up. If it's just a 24 hour flu they can pick up the work when they get back to school. Boy, is that clear as mud? I hope that makes sense. If not, email and ask me. 

I do have a student on vacation right now. I sent her books and some paper copies with her last Friday. She is getting online with each of us during the day to get the instruction. She is taking a break during specials, lunch and recess or if I just tell her...you don't need to be on right now. So  far so good. She emails me with questions on homework.  

Now if you don't have WiFi...then I would just send home the books and copies. We also will do catch up when you get back if we need to. These are definitely strange times! 😀

Reading- We read A Royal Mystery this week. This is actually a play with a mystery involved. The two main characters find out they are really cousins. ( Kind of like Parent Trap) Due to our shortened week, they only had to do 5 vocabulary words.  This week in grammar we are discussing the 4 kinds of sentences there are and how to punctuate them. I reminded them that if they don't punctuate on their worksheets it will be wrong because that is the whole point of the lesson. They will take their post test in spelling on Friday. 

Spirit Day- Friday is a Spirit Day! They can wear sweats or a hat for $1. It was supposed to be the Cy-Hawk game weekend as well. IF they want to wear their favorite team jersey, sweatshirt, t-shirt...go ahead! It doesn't have to be a Cyclone or Hawkeye. Sorry, you will never see me in those. I prefer purple and gold!

Math- So it took me a few days to get through all the corrections. Sometimes, I feel okay about just giving it to them to correct on their own. These first few assignments are a lot. Those were corrections  that I needed to do with them individually. On Wednesday we started working on the different properties in addition and multiplication. Those should really be review for them. The new one is Distributive Property. As I told them, it might stress them out a bit. There is a lot for them to take in and do . This lesson will take a few days to fully cover  as well. I told them for the first test, they will get a "cheat sheet" from me. They can use to remind them of all the different things we cover in this chapter. We are not near a test yet! 

Religion- After we are done with our first chapter, I am going to have the kids in 3-5 help me with a service project.  A friend of my mom's back home has a charity called SALUTE. She sends care packages to military men and women who are serving overseas a couple of times a year. The Christmas ones go out November 15. I am going to have the kids make Christmas cards to put in the packages.  They will also be writing positive notes like "Stay Safe" or "God Bless America" or whatever they come up with on a mailing label. She uses those labels on the ziploc baggies or  items she includes in the packages. I will take pictures and post them so you can see what I am talking about. That should happen in the next couple of weeks. 

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend! I ended up last Saturday watching my niece from Waterloo play soccer in Waukee. It was so nice to see family again! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 

September 2, 2020

 Hello Parents, Well, we are making it through week 2!!  I think we are getting a routine down, but I better not say that too quickly! 

Reading- This week we read a piece from The Wayside School is Falling Down. This story has some great humor and irony in it! The kids say that Mrs. Meisenheimer read them the book in 2nd grade. I think they understand the jokes a little more now that they are older. It cracks me up every time! Our grammar was on the parts of a sentence: simple subject and predicate, fragmented sentences and complete sentences. They will have their post test in spelling on Friday. I give them a list of their words on Mondays (or pretest days) so they can take that home to study their words. If they get 100% on the pretest, they don't have to take the post test on Fridays. 😀 

Math- We started our chapter on Tuesday! The first lesson is about place value and increasing their numbers by 10 or decreasing by 1/10. It was really about being able to multiply and divide mentally by 10. I did show them the pattern of gaining a 0 or losing a 0. We also pretended we were going to the bank to withdraw 1/10 of our savings. For some of the kids that didn't amount to much! Some walked out with $1! Next, we will be working on writing numbers in standard, expanded, and word form. They also have to be able to write the value of a digit in a number. For example: 2,876. The value of the 8 is 800. 

Religion- Their first activity was finding Bible verses and their titles. I created it on Google Slides for them to do. That took me a few times to get it assigned correctly! Our first chapter is on creation. We will have our mass with 4th grade in 2 weeks on Sept. 16. You can join us on the link on YouTube. There won't be as many people with jobs because we don't have all the normal jobs anymore. 

Picture Day is TOMORROW! 📸

No School on Monday! Labor Day! Enjoy the long weekend! 

Social Studies- I know they walked to the post office on Tuesday with Mrs. Sickels. They mailed their letters to their towns in Iowa. You will probably be getting some mail in the coming weeks! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the long one! I will probably stick around and be here one day doing some work. 😃

God Bless,

Miss Surma

August 27, 2020

 Hello Parents!  I hope you are having a good week! We are certainly working on getting used to our new routines. The heat is not helping us have outdoor classes this week! Maybe next week! 

Chromes- We got on the Chromebooks on Tuesday. That was a deal for some of them. I love technology...when it works! 😉 They are in their Google Classrooms now. So we will be posting assignments there as well. We don't want them to forget...just in case! They will be doing lessons in Dreambox as well. We just haven't gotten there yet. 

Reading- On Wednesday, they took a pretest in spelling. It is just to show me how they are as "spellers".  They will also be taking a pretest in reading on Thursday and Friday if needed. That just shows me areas they may need work in or things they understand really well.  Next week we will start in our book with a story and a spelling test. I will shorten lists from pretest to post test if I see your child struggles with spelling. But...if you want them or they want to do all 20 words on the posttest no matter what, just let me know. 

Google Slides- On Wednesday, I got them into their Google Classrooms and they did an assignment using the Google Slides. It was really just for fun. I just want them to practice using those.  They will also be doing a religion assignment on Google slides this week. 

Math- They will take a pretest just to show me what they know in math. It will probably take a couple of days. Next week we will start in the book with chapter one. We start with place value and multiplication. 

Spirit Day is on Friday! It's definitely too hot for sweats. If they would like to wear a hat for $1, they certainly may! 

Covid- The kids are being really good about wearing their masks when we need them too. Lunch is running pretty smoothly for our group! I just have to remind them in the room that the mask is on or the shield is up. Many are choosing the mask and no shield, which is totally fine! Recess and in the morning is the hardest. They still want to be right next to each other. That habit is going to be the harder one to break. 

Picture Day is on September 3. That is next Thursday! You will get their picture order form in their Take Home Folder. 

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! It sounds like we might get some cooler temps! Yay! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

Dear Parents, This is my final blog for our year. It is hard to believe. It will be just a few things.


Monday, May 25- All late work is due- that would also mean any reading or math they didn't get done on Friday
Tuesday, May 26- Any science and religion will be due that hasn't been turned in yet. 
Wednesday, May 27- Social Studies is due
Thursday, May 28- Pick up supplies. Mrs. Simmons put out a sign up sheet. I hope you picked your time. 

That's it. I am putting a little something special in their pick up bags.


I hope you know that while this was not my favorite way of  teaching your children, we did it! I so wish we could have been back in the classroom. I am trying NOT to think about the things we didn't get to do. Your kids are all awesome! I love every one of them!!!! This has not been an easy time for any of us, but thank you so much for your support and understanding. That means a great deal to me too. I also know I am done with some of you because it is your youngest. UGH! Thank you for sending your kids to our school. Thank you for entrusting me with them for the year. Thank you for letting me spend this time with them and hopefully given them some new information, but also some new memories. They will always be my Covid class!  ( Not sure if that is a good thing or not, but that is part of our memories I guess).


They told me their hopes for after Covid-19... I hope they get to see them come true!  Have a wonderful summer. Hopefully it will feel more normal than our spring. I know I can't give your kids hugs right now, so please give them a squeeze from me!
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Hello Parents, First, thank you so much for that awesome poster you created with your kids! I absolutely love it! It made my day!!! ❤❤❤


Reading- Book Report Slides are due on Monday morning by 9 am. We also will be meeting that day . They need to come dressed in their costume and be ready to share 5 facts about their person. I am loving the pictures you guys are sending me! They are so cute! Cute might not be the right word...but I love them. My niece is making a video of them. I chose a song to be used. You CANNOT share the video publicly. I don't have copyright permission. This is just for you to enjoy. I won't be posting it on our Facebook page. I will email you the video once I have it.  Again, please don't post it anywhere. 

Photos are due this Friday. Thanks again! 


Math- Well, I have discovered that teaching fractions this way is not my cup of tea. Some of your kids are struggling. Part of the problem is that they aren't watching the videos and just do the work, they watch it one time and think they understand, or they are just googling the answers and not learning the process. I am thankful they at least admit these things to me. 
The biggest is watching the video one time and thinking they understand. They need to watch a few times and practice because they are having to redo a lot of assignments OR we are sitting on the phone together to get it done correctly. I don't mind the phone calls, I really don't, but I think if they would watch videos more than once, things might be a little better. If we were at school, I'd stamp their work with a stamp that says, "Did with teacher". I will probably mark that on their assignments online from now on. I know we don't have a lot of time left but they will have a lot more paper work they have to do in order to get their answers because I am going to continue moving on. It will require more work from them. 
(Adding fractions with unlike denominators) That work will have to be shown to me.  If they are really struggling, please have them call me and we will walk through it together.

Religion- This week they read the story of Saul and how he became blind, but could then see and changed his name to Paul. We will also be talking about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit as well as the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Next Wednesday will be the final religion assignment. 

May 22, 2020- This is the last day we will give assignments. 

May 28, 2020- This will be the day you can come pick up your child's belongings as  well as turn in any library books or chromes you've been using during this time. Mrs. Simmons will put out a plan for that day and how we will do the pick up. It might look a little like that day in March. 

Moms- I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! My trip back home was great...even if it was 8 hours in a car. 

I hope you have a great weekend! 
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Hello Parents, How are you doing this week? I hope everyone is well. The weather is a tad cooler this week. Looking ahead...we really only have 2 weeks left.

Religion- The Google slides last week were really good. I am excited to see what they do in reading!
This week is their lesson on Maria Goretti.

Math- We moved on to being able to compare fractions this week. We are also going to work on comparing mixed numbers.  Once we have that we will move on to adding and subtracting fractions.

Reading - I have seen everyone's notes now! They should be working on their slides now. I posted instructions and emailed them to them. Don't forget to take a picture of your child in their costume and send to me by May 15. You can just have them stand there in it or give it some life... Dolly Parton could be singing in a mic, Michael Jordan might be shooting hoops, Amelia could be flying...maybe not the crashing :) , Bill Gates could be working at his computer, Anne might be writing in her journal , Thomas Jefferson might be taking his oath of office or signing the Declaration! Tim might be scoring a goal! Josie could be riding her horse! Tara...studying or writing her book. Lafayette might be heading into battle! Jackie Kennedy might be writing or waving to people in a parade... again..not the shooting. Babe Ruth might be at batting practice or working on a farm. Stan Lee could be drawing a new comic.
Either email or text me the picture. Thanks! 

Slides are due on May 18. They will need to be in costume during our Google meet on May 18.


On their daily work I am being really picky on writing in complete sentences. Some could put more effort into their answers, especially when it asks them how they know. They really should be giving me as many details as possible. This is not all 5th graders...just some of them.  They usually have to correct if they get docked too many points.

Science- this will be due on Monday. Some are having a hard time completing the assignment. They do part of it but not all. Mrs. Burg is sending them back to finish.

Social Studies - the new assignment comes out tomorrow (Thursday). It will be due next Wednesday. I know she was waiting for some things to be turned in today (they were due at 3:00 today)


Mother's Day- I hope all of you Moms get spoiled by your kids this weekend! I know you deserve it. Hopefully you are able to celebrate in some way. My mom was my best friend...know that your kids love you more than anything!  I plan on keeping my normal plans for the day- I am going to drive home on Sunday. I create a flower box that stays with my parents in the cemetery from spring until late fall. Each year, I have a theme or reason for the flowers. This year, I asked my nieces and nephews their favorite colors. I bought silk flowers in those colors and added Mom and Dad's favorites as well. I always put them out on Mother's Day weekend. I will do that on Sunday and drive back to Creston. Yes, it will be a lot of car time, but totally worth it for me. No place I'd rather be. Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

God Bless,
Miss Surma